Sri Lanka Consulatela

News Updates Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan government does not want UN aid workers

The head of United Nations Humanitarian Affairs leaves Sri Lanka “disappointed”. John Holmes did not get a “green light” from the government to send a humanitarian team to the region where the Tamil Tigers are entrenched, surrounded by the army which intends to end a separatist rebellion that began in the 1970s.

At least 50,000 civilians are stranded in the northeast of the country, on a coastal territory that is shrinking day by day. Less than 10 square km now. They survive in the worst hygienic conditions. A humanitarian catastrophe is thus underway. In London on Monday, as has been the case regularly for a few weeks, Sri Lankans demonstrated to demand an immediate ceasefire. The British, French and Swedish foreign ministers will travel to Sri Lanka on Wednesday to attempt a new mediation.